Hidden
by Katsuko1978
Summary: It had been so long that they'd nearly forgotten how it had felt to be afraid. AU one-shot, set between the 2007 and 2009 film releases.


**Disclaimer:** Transformers © Hasbro

**Notes:** Once again, I tried to get a bunny out of my head and it kept clinging to me. This was actually written in mid-July; I've just been too damned lazy to upload it here. Bad excuse, I know. Forgive me?

This is set in Tranquility during the Mission City battle in the 2007 movie; if I continue, RotF stuff may appear later down the line.

* * *

Miles Lancaster felt like someone had sucker-punched him.

Only half an hour ago, the world had made sense to him. He'd returned to the house he shared with his dad and older sister Michelle after taking Mason out for a run, called greetings out to the garage and the living room (_Sportscenter_ was on, and Shellie could never be dragged away from the television until it was over), then headed into his room to surf the web for whatever struck his fancy at the moment. He'd once stumbled over the word _wikabout_, pertaining to randomly skipping about Wikipedia with no end destination in mind, and found that he enjoyed how many unusual facts he could learn in an afternoon.

Everything was going fine until the news alert he'd set up pinged him regarding a breaking story, and he turned his attention away from an article on the 1988 Summer Olympics to see what was going on in the world.

He hadn't expected to see not only the Decepticons they'd been hiding from for years roaming the streets of Mission City, but Autobots as well.

When the silence from the living room finally registered, he'd wandered out to find Shellie staring at the TV in mute shock, the channel no longer showing ESPN but news coverage of the battle in progress. Miles sank onto the couch next to his sister, not entirely sure when he'd reached for her hand nor when she'd grasped his, but taking and offering comfort all the same. He recognized so many of the mechs shown in the footage – Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide, Starscream, Blackout, _Optimus Prime himself_ – and he knew that there was only one thing that would draw so many to this small planet they had chosen to hide one.

_Way to go, Dad,_ he thought dryly, silently cursing his father for picking the one planet that the All Spark had decided to land on as their haven.

Shellie's voice drew him from his thoughts, her voice coming out very small. "What do we do?"

Miles opened his mouth, trying to come up with a response, when their father's voice cut him off: "Come out to the garage."

Absently cutting off the TV, the siblings stood as one and headed towards their father's domain, Mason following them at a sedate pace with his head hanging low. The light automatically cut on when they entered, revealing nothing inside the garage aside from a lot of electronic equipment and a red 1984 Corvette C4. Mason moved across the room and settled on his haunches next to the car as Shellie rested one hand on the hood, her other hand still grasping Miles' tightly.

This time Miles asked the question: "What do we do?"

The Corvette seemed to heave a sigh, settling on its wheels. "We remain hidden. We've been here a lot longer than anyone else—"

"Except apparently Megatron," the blond pointed out helpfully, grinning at the engine growl his comment received and the faint snort of laughter from his sister.

"Except Megatron," his dad conceded. "We'll just have to plan this carefully. You're both due to 'graduate' from the youngling education facility soon, correct?"

"High school, Boss," Shellie corrected, rolling her eyes slightly. "And yeah, in about a year."

The Corvette gave a brief hum. "Then keep going on as you have. Any ties you've formed with the humans, start to ease out of them. From what I've learned of this species, friendships often do dissolve once primary education comes to a close. No one will suspect anything if you simply lose touch with 'high school' friends as you start college."

"Um, how is that hiding?"

"It's hiding when, after you graduate, we go to ground," the disguised mech replied in an amused tone of voice. "We'll leave Tranquility and head north, maybe head to Portland and start all over again there. No one will think much of a new family settling in."

The siblings exchanged a look and nodded slowly. "It probably won't be hard breaking ties with Sam," Miles admitted. "I'm pretty sure I saw him on the news, and he's likely to keep the whole thing secret from me since he thinks I'm just a normal, average human teenager."

Shellie snorted. "Rewind, there's _nothing_ average about you!"

"Frag off, Eject," he replied with a grin, already starting to feel like things might just be okay.

As the twins teased and grappled with one another, Blaster sighed quietly to himself and pulled up a search engine. It would be over a year until they fled from the war once again, but there was no reason to hold off on finding someplace for them to settle. Keeping a few sensors locked on his younger creations and a few on the ever-vigilant Steeljaw at his side, Blaster allowed himself to relax in spite of his primary concern:

_What will happen when the other Autobots finally locate us?_

* * *

**End Note:** Here's the bunny that wouldn't let go of me:

_2007/2009 Movieverse: Anyone else notice that Miles pulled a Houdini between the two films? And that no one – not even the best friend – made mention of him on-screen? Let's just say he was mentioned off-screen but in passing (he couldn't see Sam off because he already started school or whatnot) but he's been keeping a low profile since Mission City._

_The reason? Miles is an Autobot Pretender named Rewind that's been hiding out on Earth for a while and didn't even realize the All Spark was nearby. When the news about Mission City hits the internet, he pulls back from Sam somewhat to keep hidden (after all, Bumblebee noticed something was wrong with Alice, who's to say he wouldn't have realized Miles was different from a normal human after a while?) and when he goes "to school" he's really hiding out with Eject, the other 'bot Pretender on Earth who goes by the name Michelle (yes, I cruised the wiki in search of human females somewhere in the continuities XD) and their guardian/creator figure Blaster._

_I can only imagine the chaos and questions that will come up when someone realizes that Blaster and his kids have been hiding on Earth for ****__years_ without saying anything.


End file.
